Last location of the day (at Hilton Liverpool Hotel)
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Sonic Yootha
Another month and another archive photograph has made it onto a Sonic Yootha poster. Like buses, they all turn up at once and this one’s the Garlands bus. It’s Mark Jenkins or Marky J, to anybody who had the pleasure of ever meeting him. A Liverpool clubbing legend of the highest order. From putting on Bigmouth (short lived and ahead of it’s time) and then later Garlands and Fairies Across the Mersey (where this photograph was taken), Mark was the life and soul of just about every room he ever walked into. And whilst I went to loads of the nights he put on (including the Garlands bus), I always remember him from the after parties when the Voodoo and Garlands crowd would meet up in someone’s house and carry on the party and Mark would bring with him tales from Eberle Street. Thinking back I don’t actually remember any of the tales (and even if I did, maybe this isn’t the place) but I always remember his laugh and way the whole room would listen. The way that visiting techno DJs suddenly had this Garlands circus turn up at the after-hours with Mark J holding court and I can still see their faces and I can still hear his voice. ❤️
The Beige Experience
It’s always exciting seeing your work in print but seeing your archive appear on a Sonic Yootha poster is even better! Now, personally, I don’t go to nightclubs anymore but if I did Sonic Yootha would be the first on the list and I always look forward to seeing the new posters so it’s a massive honour to see this. The photograph itself is of Beige Experience though everyone knew them as Brian and Gerry (Gerry’s on the left on this photo though). They were best fiends and actors and they created this thing called the Beige Experience and they put on sketches and theatre productions. And they were funny. They were very very funny. Onstage and offstage. In fact, when i think back on any time I spent with them (and we do seem to have done a quite a few photographs together), I just remember laughing all the time which is always a great way to remember how things were. Have a great Sonic Yootha pride party and I’ll keep an eye out for the post party photos. The messier the better! Swipe left to see more from the Beige Experience.
I’m currently working a new portfolio/print website. More news on that over the coming days but here’s a quick pic from the archive of Paul Weller, rehearsing for the White Room TV programme on April 17th, 1995.
It’s the summer and I’ve been back in Chester for the Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre and this year’s opening show, Twelfth Night. Always a pleasure working alongside Storyhouse, and the Shakespeare comedy has always been my highlight of the summer programme.
Whilst I’m not one for posting anything too technical on my blogs, I was working with some newish kit on this shoot and it’s proved to me that the Fuji X cameras work perfect for these sort of situations, namely running around during the show and trying to keep as quiet and unobtrusive as possible. So, small and very quiet cameras are perfect for the job and the latest models (XT3 and X-H1) are a big step forward. One of the worries on previous models was the speed of focusing but the water shot, in this collection, tells me the new models are a big step forward. Might have to think about doing some further blogging about these sort of situations as I am relied upon for keeping quiet and out of the way with a lot of my work, which I think is the big benefit of shooting mirrorless.
I’ve been working with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra pretty constantly since 2008 and, whilst I’ve shot lots of portraits with maestro Vasily Petrenko, I’ve very rarely done any band individual members so it was great to shoot them all one by one over a series of studio sessions. Finally, we’re all on first name terms but there’s probably around eighty of them for me to remember!
Just a few of the highlights (and there were many) of an amazing weekend, working at Africa Oyé. It’s always brilliant, even when the weather’s not so kind, but the music this year was on another level with BCUC, Moonlight Benjamin and Garifuna Collective being my new favourites.
Hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did.
One love X
The first major UK exhibition by the late great Keith Haring came to Tate Liverpool this month and I was asked to work on the press photography around the event. This included the launch photography as well as a series of installation shots, produced ahead of the launch, which ended up being used in national media. Just so happens to be on e of the best gallery shows I’ve seen in years and it’s on until November 10th this year.
My first ever commission for Writing on the Wall and their annual WowFest which was just ace. Whilst I’ve got to say that the Helen Pankhurst event was my fave, it was just one great gig after another. I finally got to see one of Laurence Westgaphs’ walking tours of Liverpool, and a very surreal afternoon on a history walk with Roger Hill, made Jo Brand laugh (but she made me laugh at lot more), met Mike Leigh who was just brilliant and got to hear Billy Bragg sing Jerusalem! Result!
Liverpool’s one big late night cultural behemoth just gets better and better every year. I know, why is it only on for one night? a year. But it is, it’s brilliant and I’ve already got next year’s date in the diary! Hats off to Open Culture. X
Hands down, The Witching Hour was the best outdoor spectacle I’ve seen in a long long time. On behalf of Imagine Wirral, Absolutely Cultured took over a section of Birkenhead Park for an after-hours three arena promenade production of storytelling and theatre with incredible performances and music. Got to be a highlight of 2019 if not many a year.